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Imagining Argentina (2003)

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Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 3
Fresh: 1 | Rotten: 2

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68

liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 3,976

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Movie Info

Accomplished British screenwriter Christopher Hampton directs the political drama Imagining Argentina, based on the novel by Lawrence Thornton. Set during the unsettling disappearances in Buenos Aires during the dictatorship of the 1970s, the film involves theater director Carlos Rueda (Antonio Banderas) and his wife Cecilia (Emma Thompson). Shortly after Cecilia writes an editorial commentary questioning the mysterious abductions, she is herself abducted and taken into police custody. Soon

R, 1 hr. 47 min.

Art House & International, Drama

Oct 11, 2005

Arenas Entertainment

Cast

All Critics (14) | Top Critics (3) | Fresh (4) | Rotten (8) | DVD (8)

Despite its flaws, the film does the job in helping us imagine what that must be like for relatives and friends left behind.

August 20, 2004 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | Comment
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's sad to see a film which, despite fine work in the various craft departments, fails to succeed on the most basic level.

June 29, 2004 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The concept takes magical realism to a reductive, overtly literal level, trivializing the subject and the people the film tries so hard to memorialize.

June 10, 2004 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | Comment
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Gimmicky, pat, and just a tad too brutal at times, Imagining Argentina is a powerful statement rendered oddly ineffectual by a consistent desire to avoid controversy.

November 30, 2005 Full Review Source: DVD Verdict | Comment
DVD Verdict

Hampton's mixing of thriller and love story, cinematic coincidence and historical fact makes this film flawed but fascinating.

July 16, 2004 Full Review Source: RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland) | Comment

Like Life Is Beautiful before it, Imagining Argentina juxtaposes horrific images of torture and humiliation against gooey optimism and thinks it's saying something profound about human resilience in the process.

June 10, 2004 Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | Comment
L.A. Weekly

...fidgety and incomplete, as though either poorly conceived or poorly re-edited after the fact.

June 10, 2004 Comment

Hampton makes a moving job of it, with top-notch cinematography and heartfelt performances.

May 14, 2004 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | Comment (1)
Empire Magazine

The power of the film is its roots in official truths which are already melting away.

April 28, 2004 Full Review Source: Times [UK] | Comment
Times [UK]

Well-intentioned but awkwardly executed.

April 23, 2004 Full Review Source: BBC | Comment

Honorable, but highly flawed, production.

February 17, 2004 Full Review Source: Film Journal International | Comment
Film Journal International

It's maddening that the film is so weak, because there's a touching and seriously important story here that should have been told with power, honesty and humanity.

January 30, 2004 Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | Comment
Shadows on the Wall
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Imagining Argentina

In "Imagining Argentina," Cecilia Rueda(Emma Thompson), a journalist, is snatched off the street by armed men in Buenos Aires in 1976. Eight weeks later, her husband Carlos(Antonio Banderas), a theater director, is still at a loss as to her disappearance. While he does his best to take care of his teenaged daughter

June 22, 2011
Harlequin68
Walter M.

Super Reviewer

The subject matter surrounding the plot is interesting, but unfortunately the shortened version of the movie details is misleading. The storyline itself is absolutely silly.

November 23, 2010
marevalo83
Mariana Arevalo

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